Sleepers
---- Spaceport - :Still relatively unscathed, the tarmac of this spaceport, as well as everything else, is obviously new. The spaceport appears to be able to accomodate anything from a shuttle to a cruise liner. Several vehicles are here, with one or more nearly always taxiing, landing, or undocking. Dozens of personnel scurry about, guiding ships and helping passengers with anything from baggage to customs. The roar of engines is one of the only consistant things about the pad. Several tracks lead away, towards Deserata's various attractions, and the Grand Hotel is nearby, enabling passengers to check in and rest before enjoying the planet's other attractions. ---- Rathenhope is standing at the bottom of the Star's ramp, slightly worried expression on his face. Goldenfur comes in walking, he is carring on his back a backpack that seems to be filled with equipment, since the packpack is a bit stuffed with objects, most of then pointy, for what can be seen from the outside of the backpack. Alandra enters from the grand hotel. She is holding Jan's hand as she heads across the landing pad toward Rath and the Star. Jantine follows after Lan, holding her hand. He moves with her towards the Mercy, offering Rath a wave with his free hand as they near. Rathenhope doesn't spot Goldenfur, but does spot Jan and Alandra, offering a wave to the two of them. "Thought you could use some security," he says with a faint smile as they approach. Goldenfur notices the Ruin crew nearby, and swiftly moves toward them, he smiles and greets them, but still with a rather serious air "Hi there boys" Alandra smiles at Rath, "Security is always a good thing, and we can use as many hands as possible I'm sure. You have any first aid training?" she waves to Goldenfur when she hears him. Jantine nods to Rath "Oh, your quarterstaff is on the Mercy, you can get it while you're here." he says with a slight smile, keeping his hand in Lan's. He raises his eyebrow slightly to Goldenfur, but says absolutely nothing. Rathenhope quirks an eyebrow as he sees Goldenfur, tensing slightly, arms held closely to his sides. "I don't think first aid'll be any help with people in a coma," he shrugs to Alandra. "No other injuries." He peers at Jantine and grins. "Ooh, can't wait to have a play, remind me how much I owe you." The hotel lobby and the spaceport tarmac are packed with cots, mattresses, piles of pillows, and just about anything else to bear the victims of the recent coma epidemic on Deserata. Moving among the patients, Dr. Antonio Baldwin speaks briefly with a couple of warehouse workers turned orderlies about supplies needed for IV units. The spaceport's general store clerk stands in the doorway of his shop, watching the chaos while keeping a surgical mask over his face for fear of getting infected with whatever caused tens of thousands of people to fall into comas. Takoda descends the ramp and smiles as he sees the crew. "Hey folks, how are we?" Ras Algethi appears out of the cycling hatch of the Mercy, not yet walking down the ramp. He simply looks out at the landing pad in front of him. "Hmm, sometimes I wonder if I should've quit drinking." he notes, then drawing in a sigh. Goldenfur look around, when he notices Dr. Antonio Baldwin there, he starts to approach him, after greeting the people that he know, using both crutches, and with both ears raised. Alandra shrugs, "At least you should have enough knowledge to be able to help if it's needed." She then looks out over the landing pad, the people, and spotting the Dr. moving amongst them she turns to Jan, "Come with me to speak with him," she says softly as she lets his hand go for now, and heads in the direction of Dr. Antonio. The doctor eyes Goldenfur as the Demarian approaches on crutches. "If you're not in a coma, go find a line to stand in. I'm not handling new patients just now." Jantine nods a little to Rath, before nodding to Lan, following after her. He lets her release his hand, but still remains relatively close to her. The IND Dragonfly descends from orbit, speed slowing noticeably as the little ship nears enough to scan the crowded pad. It hovers, true to its name for a moment, and then settles onto a clear space on the pad some way away. Goldenfur chuckles, then he show his back, with his name and the amethyst drawing and says "I am not a patient, I am Goldenfur Gadgettweaker, engineer and researcher, and I came to help, and research." Rathenhope looks around at the people, then back at the Star. "...Might have to be landing pad treatment after all," he remarks, following the others. "I'm on information gathering I guess, Lan, Jan, find out if there's any similarities, if they ate at the same place, same race, whatever." Takoda heads down, his step faltering as his eyes scan the scene. He hurries over towards Alandra as she's approaching Dr. Baldwin. Ras Algethi after tossing his fedora and dress coat back into the airlock, the Lunite starts down the ramp to catch up with the others. "I guess I'm fashionably late eh?" he says stepping quickly to the rear of the group. Alandra glances back to Rath and nods then continues on toward the Dr. "Excuse me, sir," she says, "I'm Dr. Barras, this is my Assistant Jantine Osligoth, and these are my people," she indicates Rath, Ras, and Takoda. "We have come to offer our aid and use of our medical ship and her equipment if it is needed." The patients appear to be of many different varieties, from Centauran to human to Timonae. There are even a couple of G'ahnli burbling miserably in their tanks, floating half-belly-up. Dr. Baldwin glowers at Goldenfur. "Research? *Research*?!" His gaze then shifts to Alandra and others approaching him. "Oh, Jesus Christ, more gawkers." He jabs a finger toward Goldenfur. "Don't get in my way. Don't harass the patients." Upon hearing Alandra's explanation, he sighs and says, "We can certainly use your help. Any monitoring and scanning equipment would be useful. Meanwhile, make sure people like Noseycat here don't get too close to the patients." Jantine seems the slighest bit uncomfortable for a moment, but it's gone in moments. He nods a bit as the doctor speaks, before looking to Lan, perhaps waiting for instructions. Goldenfur tilts his head, then after some time he awnsers "Not medical research sir, I am not a biologist, I am a phycist and chemist, I want to know who I need to search for get more information, or something like this." he notices that there are even G'ahnli here and remembers of his work on G'ahlo, but he decides to not use it yet as advertising or something like this., Rathenhope nods to the Doctor a little, smiling very slightly. "I'm a fully-trained security officer," he informs the doctor. "It will be my pleasure." His eyes scan over the races. "..Interesting," he remarks idly. "Delivery method must be damned clever." With that he steps towards Goldenfur. "Move back please, give the doctors some room and stay well clear of the patients." Ruin steps out of the airlock...giving a look toward the security measures before shaking his head and moving to join the others...his demeanor getting more serious and determined as he walks past the cots to his friends. "I'm sorry I took so long," he says as he approaches. "On the plus side - I've brought a lab with me. Should help if we can get any idea what started all this." He gives Rathenhope a slight bow. "I think you might forgive the delay, captain, when you get an eyeful. But I'll help however I can." "Dr. Caldera, at your service, along with the rest of the Mercy crew." Ras states politely, before turning to Lan. "The medbay is prepped and ready to go. We can start taking on paitents whenever your ready to do so." Takoda keeps quiet. His eyes scan the crowd, but narrow and settle on Rath when he hears his words. He "hrms" quietly, and looks to Lan, waiting for her to take the lead. "What do you need doc? Not sure if any of my herbal medicine would help here. Want me to get any kit off the Iup'?" "I'd be much obliged if you could take on some of our more noteworthy patients," Baldwin says to the Mercy crew. "Peter Delarme from Sivtek was here for a conference. And there's a young man named Kip Caspar. He was here visiting with friends in the Ungstiri Militia. I'm told this Caspar kid is kinda famous. Something about the big battle against the Kamir on Nocturn, and from before his days on Sanctuary." He shrugs. "Not even 20 and he's in a coma. Otherwise healthy, from all appearances. Seems like they all got hit simultaneously by synaptic nanite attacks. Trying to keep that a little quiet, given the possibility for panic." Alandra nods and turns to Ruin and nods, then looks to Ras, "Would you and Takoda mind grabbing the scanners, and that might be a good idea, Takoda" She adds before turning back to Dr. Antonio, "We would be glad to. Lead the way," she says pulling out her own medical scanner from her sweater pocket. Jantine just moves to follow after Lan, although he does request, softly "Just tell me where you want me, Lan." Goldenfur notices how he is getting plainly ignored, and how even his 'crewmates' are ignoring him, but he manages to control himself and only ask again to the doctor "Can you not say to me where I find someone to talk, to start a research of the reason of whatever happened here?" Rathenhope turns to Ruin, blinking at the man in surprise. "How'd you'd get here?" he asks, then looks past the man, his eyes lighting up as he spots the Dragonfly.. "You didn't..." he says, trailing off, then grins. "Nice. Show me around later," he says, leaning in to murmur something to Ruin before looking to the Doctor, his head tilting. "...Eh? Interesting..." he repeats before turning to Goldenfur, watching the Demarian with his hands by his sides. Ruin scowls at the mention of nanites, nods to Rathenhope, and looks at Alandra. "...Think you could get me some of them?" he asks. "Or would it hurt them?" Goldenfur gets a steady look and then, "Hello, long time no see. My ship is over *there*," and he points in the direction of the Dragonfly. "Go wait there, would you please? When we can get something to study, you can help me in the lab." He doesn't say the words, 'away from the patients', but he probably doesn't have to, either. Dr. Baldwin forces a smile as he turns to regard Goldenfur one more time. "Please, allow me to stop everything I'm doing for the 100,000 patients lying clearly on the ground around you. Let me ignore THEM so that I can help satisfy your morbid curiosity. I just freaking SAID what happened. I'm not interested in sharing it with every last person in the cosmos right now, so you'll just have to forgive me if I'm not willing to waste someone else's valuable time holding your goddamned paw and walking you through what's already been in the news. We don't know who did it. We don't know why they did it. I don't know who the hell you can talk to, but if you find the person, put yourself to some goddamned use and CLAW THEIR GODDAMNED EYES OUT!" "Already got mine." Ras notes, digging into his pocket to remove his medical scanner. He turns to Takoda. "You got one? If not, there are some spares in one of the lockers in the medbay. Actually..." he pauses, looking over the group. "May need a few more." he notes, giving Ruin a nod. "Hey, yeah can get you one." he says, then blinking at the outburst. "Yeeah...and at that, I'll get those scanners." turning to head back towards the Mercy. Takoda nods at Lan "'k doc." He stops and smiles gently at her. "Good luck and God bless, whether your God or mine.". Takoda turns to Ras, holding out his hand. "Doc, Shaman Takoda of the Iuppiter. Lead the way?" he asks. Goldenfur he show his fangs and raise his fur, while he also show his claws, but he nods to Ruin and starts to walk toward the Ruin ship, still with the claws visible. Alandra nods. "I was curious if there was anything that you might have found these people had in common?" she asks Dr. Antonio, "Did they happen to eat at the same place, or had they all gone on the same ride? In the news it mentioned the air conditioning system. Had they all been near the same air conditioning units at some point?" Jantine blinks slightly, falling silent and standing near Lan, obviously still waiting. Rathenhope tilts his head, watching after Goldenfur. "...Cat?" he calls with a dangerous note to his tone. "You show your claws around anyone here again, threaten them, -anything-, and I -will- take you down." He turns and smiles sweetly to the others before peering about for anyone else who might be getting in the way. The doctor gestures at some air vents above the turnstiles leading into the theme park. "Most of them passed under those on the way into the parks. Other than that, it didn't seem to be food-borne - that would have been intestinal. Seems they were airborne nanites, inhaled, and then they traveled to a specific synaptic clusters designed to control consciousness. We tried to dislodge the nanite from an Ungstiri patient. She died instantly." Ruin nudges Jan. "Go find the people the good doctor mentioned," he says. "Get them safely moved to the medbay. Alandra and Takoda will take it from there." He eyes the vents. "Exact numbers...redundant nanites inhaled, only the right number activated? Or guided, so that only these people inhaled them at all?" "Shaman eh? Interesting. Yeah I'm Doc Caldera...but thats just the professional name. Call me Ras. Bluesman works too." Ras says, taking the Qua's hand in a quick, but firm handshake, and heading back up the Mercy's ramp. "What we found out, actually, is that 92,268 people collapsed initially," Doctor Baldwin replies. "But then two people snapped back into consciousness. We checked their neurological scans. The nanites didn't stick around. That mean anything to you?" Takoda glances back to the group as he overhears their comment. "Ras?" he says quietly to the doc as he walks alongside him. "Sure, no problem. Yeah, I've got a decent amount of training in herbal medicine and a good stock on the Iup', but I don't know if any of that would help here, this isn't really trying to correct an imbalance, this is an attack, almost viral." Takoda looks pensive for a second. "I wonder how Doc Baldwin tried to move them. I wonder if we can generate a large enough magnetic field from the scanner to disrupt them? If they're behaving as a 'swarm' then they need to have some kind of basic comms between each other. It's like they're attacking, almost like a...." his voice trails off, his mind obviously churning over an idea. "I wonder if we could trigger the body into treating them as a virus, and attack using the body's normal defences?" he suggests to Ras. Rathenhope tilts his head at the Doctor's words. "That means they're remotely activated I would assume," he says slowly, peering at the man. "...I wonder if those turnstiles are exact number turnstiles, as in they register everyone who goes through... Anything specific about the two people who woke up?" he asks the Doctor. Alandra frowns at this. "Do you think it would be possible to look at them without removing them? My associate here," she indicates Ruin, "Is an amazing engineer, would it be alright if he took a look? And would it be possible to look into the air vents these people passed near? And that does mean something. Somebody is controling this, making sure this exact number is used." Jantine blinks slightly, but nods silently to Ruin. He's quiet, but goes off to look for the two special people mentioned, the man from Sivtek and the hero Kip. Goldenfur while walking away, he hears the talk, and returns, trying to ignore Rathenhope and his aggresive manner, but he does not closed or lowered his furs yet, he also does not talk with the doc directly, but with Ruin and says. "Ask him for the already removed nanite, so I can look at it, and also, there are any equipment around to prevent us getting the nanites on us, if two nanites are gone, two persons can be attacked if needed." "The two who woke up were an infant human girl and an Odarite male," the doctor says to Rathenhope. Then he looks over to Alandra and says, "It's safe to move the patients as long as we don't touch the nanites. It's safe to examine the nanites, so long as we do not attempt to remove them." Ras Algethi sratches his chin. "Its possible, but risky. Nanites could have some kind of failsafe, which might kill the paitent in same manner if they were being removed physically. I had the thought of using some kind EMP and that would fry them outright, but again, its still risky." he notes, nodding at Takoda. "But your idea does seem plausible. Don't think we know enough yet for any kind of true conclusion, but thats the best one I've heard yet." he says, opening the airlock and heading inside the Mercy. Ruin waves a hand at Alandra. "He said the nanites didn't stick around. If those people are still here - yes, do a scan, see if you can find any that can be *safely* removed from the victims." Still eyeing the vents, he says, "...They wanted a precise number. But airborne's vague, inaccurate. Two too many - so two were let go." He turns his attention to the security cameras. "Someone was *monitoring* to make sure the number was right." "What's the big deal about the number?" Baldwin asks, brow knitting. "Maybe I'm missing something here, but I don't get the point." Rathenhope looks over at the Doctor and smiles faintly. "The number 92,266 has been popping up everywhere over the last week or two," he explains. "Still, only two too many isn't bad when you're targetting at this scale," he remarks to Ruin. Goldenfur scrathes his head, then he says "The number is something unknown right now, and no Ruin, noone is going to use the cameras to count if 92000 persons are fainted, it is more easy to count how many nanites are activated reading their report, if they have a comm module." Takoda nods, still thinking and follows Ras into the Mercy. Alandra looks to Ruin, "Would you be able to at least look at one that is still attatched, I don't think we are going to be able to remove one at this point." She then turns back to Dr. Baldwin, "If you will show my assistant where these important people are we can get them onto the Mercy here and have a better look at them," she says. "Also, you say Sivtek? Do you think there may be some significance in that?" Jantine is still looking silently for the two mentioned important people, blinking and looking a tad uncomfortable for a fleeting moment once again. His face is primarily neutral as he searches. "Oh, it's fantastic targeting, considering nanites are pretty basic - binary, even. One task or nothing," says Ruin. "But that means they have to be guided...and if two recovered, someone was around and informed enough to tell them to *stop*...Doctor, did you let the healthy people leave here?" Blink, blink again as Alandra's question registers. "Oh - yes. Let me go get my scanner. We'll see what we can find. You see what else we can do for these people. Tom, think you can maybe see how someone might be monitoring these nanites? If there's a signal then maybe being on a ship will have an effect. Block it." He pauses. "Er. Which could be lethal, so just ...uh, file it away for thinking." "I'm not sure about the significance of Sivtek," the doctor tells Alandra. "There were a lot of tech folks here for that conference, from several different companies on multiple worlds." He motions toward the awning in front of the hotel. "Delarme and Caspar are both right over there. The ones who recovered ... well, the baby's mother and father are still in a coma, so she's in protective custody in an isolation unit in the med ward, just in case. The Odarite left against medical advice. Most of the unaffected visitors fled offworld the day of the incident." Goldenfur nods, and says to Ruin ask for the nanite from the already dead Ungstiri, also he grabs his own PDA on his backpack and start to search for information about the nanites. Rathenhope smiles faintly. "Nothing's going to hurt anyone here, not now, the point's been made," he says dryly before looking back to Ruin. "...Hmm. If someone's monitoring them, which they must have done to know there were two too many.." he pauses, thinking about it. "Your technical scanner, can it detect communication signals? Low-band, highband, everything?" Alandra nods to Ruin, "Good point, perhaps we should look at them out here then." She heads over to where Dr. Baldwin indicated and carefully looks over the first one, Delarme. She doesn't touch him yet, just looks him over, and uses her scanner to get a reading on him. Delarme appears to be in stable condition, although his cholesterol is a little high and he's about fifteen pounds overweight. The scanner blips briefly as it detects the nanite's presence in a synaptic cluster near the medulla oblongata. Jantine blinks uncomfortably again, but it's gone once again as he moves over towards the two important people, "Move them to the Mercy or no?" he asks softly, to no one in particular. Ruin nods. "Move them," he says. "Carefully." Quickly, he turns to jog back to his ship. "Let me get my scanner and we'll see." Goldenfur smiles, and awnsers Rathenhope question, but not to him. "I took some of the seek equipments with me, I can do some scanning to see if they are sending data or not." Goldenfur smiles, and awnsers Rathenhope question, but not to him. "I took some of the seek equipments with me, I can do some scanning to see if they are sending data or not." (Re to Ruin) Rathenhope frowns as he looks around. "...One nanite per person," he says quietly. "Then why two extra? Unless there's more implanted, just that those two activated by mistake." . Alandra frowns at the scanner and moves over to Casper where she performs a similar scan. She nods to Jan, "It should be safe to move him," she inicates Delarme, "Get Ras or Takoda to help you," she says softly, but not looking away from the scanner. "Moving them might not be safe after all," Baldwin mutters, looking over at Rathenhope. "What do you think about the chances of another failsafe? We already lost one patient being stupid. I don't want to risk anyone else." Ruin runs onto his ship, coming back out - a bit breathless - with a techscanner in his hands. "All right," he says. "Goldenfur did have an idea there - what happened to the nanite after it killed the Ungstiri?" "The nanite exploded and took the woman's brain with it," Baldwin answers Ruin. "Turned it to jelly." Jantine nods silently "We have stretchers on the Mercy, right?" he asks. He pauses as Baldwin mutters about moving people, looking for approval again, from someone, anyone. Goldenfur scrathes his head, then after some time, he look at Baldwin and says to Ruin "The nanites, are not really small nanites I belive, if it had explosives on it... Even nano explosives." then after some time pondering he states "The objective of that failsafe, was not to kill the victim, was to prevent us from examining the nanite." Rathenhope frowns deeper. "Failsafe... keep them here," he says quietly. "For now..." he looks carefullyy as the Doctor. "Were you onplanet before they went comatose?" he asks carefully. "Would be interesting to find out if there's one implanted." Ras Algethi retuns from out of the Mercy. "Somebody else can lower the medbay doors, no one ever told me how to do it." he notes sourly, looking over the scene infront of him. He makes his way over towards Lan. "Alright Boss Lady, what needs to be done first? Although I'll take a number if your busy." Alandra's scan of Kip Caspar reveals that he's in good physical condition, but comatose. The sensors detect the nanite located similarly to the one in Delarme. "Certainly, I was here," the doctor tells Rathenhope. "First thing I did was scan myself. I'm clean." "Wait, Jan," Lan says, "That's fine, we can look at them out here." she says looking over at Ruin. "On these two at least they are located in their brains. Is there any way to tell if they are emitting signals right now?" She turns to Dr. Baldwin, "Are all of them located near the medula oblongata like these two?" she asks. Leodhais comes out of the Iuppiter, glancing around the landing pad. His expression is blank as he heads down the ramp, looking towards the Mercy and her staff, and the uh...comatose people? Takoda follows Ras out the Mercy, medscanner in his hand. He listens intently at the conversations going on around the patients. Jantine blinks uncomfortably again, but once again he manages to return neutral and silent. He remains near the two important people "Anything else I can do?" he asks softly. "Not sure I know either, Ras, if that helps," Ruin notes absently, setting up his scanner - first - a decent way away from the patients. "Custom job, that, unique to the Star, haven't had to use it yet. Okay...for the sake of being very cautious, I'm just going to monitor for active signals right now. See if the nanites are transmitting, and where to. If I keep it passive..." he sounds a wee bit worried, "*hopefully* nobody will explode..." "On the humanoids, yes," Baldwin replies to Lan. "Halfway down the spinal cord of the G'ahnli. Between the eye sockets of the Odarites. Right smack dab in the middle of the Centauran brain." He sighs. "As for any signals, we haven't checked for that. A good tech scanner might be able to detect it." Goldenfur follows Ruin around, he says to him "Is is not better to do that on a place with a single patient around, so only him will explode, instad of everyone around?" he points to all the people around Ruin. "Gena is prolly the only one that really knows, the Mercy's his baby." Ras replies wryly to Ruin. He looks down at his medical scanner, but he doesn't turn it on yet, instead looking over at Ruin, waiting for what he might find. Rathenhope raises an eyebrow at the Demarian and sighs. "Stay nice and clear," he says slowly. "If he gets in the way, let me know," he calls to Ruin. Ruin's scan does not harm any of the patients, but it does detect active signals broadcasting to 92,266 distinct receiving points within a 4-square-mile area. All of the receiving points seem to be within and around the environs of the hotel, spaceport and landing pad. Further, Ruin is able to triangulate the source of the broadcast: It's coming from some kind of transmitter suspended somewhere in the rafters of the pavilion that covers the spaceport facility. And, given the thoroughness of Ruin's work, he's able to determine the nature of the broadcast: It's a countdown clock, currently at 97 days and change, and descending. "Doc," asks Takoda respectfully, "I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the biology of those species, I assume that the thing in common with those places is that they're all places that contain similar control centers to the base of the spine on the humanoid patients? Is there a clue there to how they work? Or is there something in common or something specifically not in common? Sorry," he apologises "lots of questions I know, I have little knowledge of some of these things." "They're gateways between the brain and the spine, effectively," Baldwin informs Takoda. Alandra looks to Ruin, "Anything?" she asks. And Jan blinks yet again, before returning neutral. This time he really is silent, not a word out of his mouth, just waiting. "Gotcha," Ruin murmurs, looking over his readouts. "Guys...come here. Take a look at this. Doctor - you too. I can't cure your patients - not sure what'll happen if we interfere with the signal - but this is where it's coming from." He turns the screen to display the results. "I do *not* like the look of that countdown. Tom? Think you can pick people that can ...*safely*...remove that device? Or should we leave it to the staff here?" "Any idea what it's counting down to? Or when, at least?" Baldwin asks, wandering over to Ruin and the tech scanner. Rathenhope walks over quickly, peering at the results. "...Hocrap," he remarks, looking at the time. There's a few seconds as he adds it up. "..22nd September," he says slowly. "Shit, and -there's- your 9/22." He looks up. "Interfering may kill them." Goldenfur nods to Baldwin and awnsers in place of Ruin "When the countdown ends, something will happen, the zero will trigger something on the nanothings, but, we can not know what the machiens are programmed to do, since trying to read them seem to explode them." he look over to Ruin and asks "Can you do some more scannings? Like scanning for active machine or life forms near the transmitter?" The doctor tilts his head and scratches his scalp as he considers Rathenhope's revelation. "6:06 p.m. On September 22. What the hell does that even mean? They're all stuck here for the next three months and then...what? They wake up? They die? They explode?" Ras Algethi heads on over to check out Ruin's readout. The Lunite frowns. "Its a countdown alright...and in my experience they never usually lead up to good things." he notes looking up at the device. Leodhais wanders after Rathenhope rather quickly, and glances at the doctor. "September 22nd...first day of autumn in some places..." Leodhais murmurs softly to himself. Volouscheur wanders off one of the offworld shuttles, looking around quietly. She glows pale green and orange, and is looking around like she's trying to spot someone or something. Alandra goes to look at the read out, "Is there anyway to get a better look at that transmitter?" she asks. "Perhaps whoever placed it left behind genetic material or something? Finger prints? something useful?" Jantine just walks over, still silent and neutral. On the tech scanner, the transmission suddenly stops broadcasting to the victims. Simultaneously, the nanites go inactive, dissolve, and the patients begin to regain consciousness. The crack of something detonating in the rafters rings out, and a smoldering chunk of plasteel bristling with antennae tumbles onto the landing pad just a couple of feet from Goldenfur. Rathenhope frowns, still looking up. "...How high is that?" he asks no one in particular. There's a pause as the thing falls and misses Goldenfur. "...Well shit. THat answers that question. -No one touch it-," he says with steel in his tone as he moves over to it, staying clear. "..Ruin? Do the honours?" "The person doing this wouldn't be sloppy as to leave anything like that." Ras points out, still looking at the transmitter. "Maybe its also tranmitting a singal besides the ones to the nanites...no nevermind, that'd be far too easy." he says, and as he ends that sentence he jumps at detonation. "Well...was that the entire countdown or was that detonated early because it had been found out?" Goldenfur turns toward the tumbling pieces and roars, then he look at the object and says "As I said, someone DO NOT WANT us messing with it..." he comments "But this time they do not exploded the brains, only the trasmitter, I think that someone important is around and they do not wanted to kill." Leodhais peers at the thing with antenna. "...I have a sinking feeling that it's too late to run," the little Sivadian says in a flat, dead voice. Alandra looks around at the cameras, "Is there a room where monitoring of the cameras is done?" she asks curiously looking back to the doctor. Ruin growls. "...We *are* being watched," he says. "Tom - can you find out who? Someone just realized they'd left a lot of evidence behind - and destroyed it. They were here, or at least able to see and affect this place quickly." Jan starts when the explosion goes off. His first instinct? Look to Lan. With a quick glance to ensure she's alright, before he finally looks to the fallen device, peering at it a bit curiously. Volouscheur spots Ruin and the others after a while and starts to make her way towards them. The crack of something blowing up, however, causes her to freeze, aura flaring yellow. Aftershocks of orange wash over her and she calls to Ruin and Lan, ~What just happened?~ Goldenfur starts to look at the antenae, trying to see what parts can be examinated, he try to do not touch the antenae or anything, believing that he can examine the antenae from far. Takoda starts at the sound of the explosion. He looks around as people start regaining consciousness. "Folks, we have 90-odd thousand people who are going to be very confused and probably very thirsty and hungry. Can I suggest we leave the engineers and security folks to work this out while we make sure our patients are OK?" "We've looked over the security discs," Baldwin says. "Nothing too exciting. The usual custodial crews in and out. Some of those custodians were among the victims." He peers at the smoldering transmitter and then looks around at the patients as they begin to awaken. "Looks like I have work to do. Thank you for ... whatever you did." He strides off to deal with the patients, leaving the starship crews to ponder the wreckage of the transmitter. Ruin isn't able to tell much about it, except for one key fact: No serial numbers for any of the parts. None. Alandra looks at Rath, "Is it possible to see if anybody is in the montoring room right now?" she asks. Rathenhope blinks at Ruin and the rest. "You're right Takoda...Doctors, I think you're going to be needed." He looks after Baldwin. "Where's the monitoring room?" he calls quickly. Jantine sighs slightly. When the doctor moves off, he moves closer to Lan, glancing over again, apparently reassuring himself, even if the device didn't land near her. He looks to Rath, then Ruin, then Lan, waiting once again. Ras Algethi nods at Takoda. "Good point. Should also make sure there aren't any residual effects from being brought out of conciounous that quickly. But yeah, they're all going to need a decent explanation." The doctor turns to answer Rathenhope. "It's been locked since yesterday. No one in or out." He points toward a door that leads to a small domed edifice adjacent to the landing pad. Leodhais goes over to Jantine, claps a hand on his shoulder and murmurs something to him. Takoda heads off towards the thousands of people who are all starting to mumble and move. Waving his arms and calling instructions to orderlies, he heads off to an area without other visible medical assistance and, grabbing some water on the way, starts making his way from bed to bed, speaking a few words with each patient and gently advising them to stay lying, to rest and regain their strength. He moves with ease and efficiency, his serene smile comforting those who are coming around. Ruin pokes gingerly at the device with a pen from his pocket. "...Another project," he murmurs. "Anyone have an objection to me taking this into my lab? Tom...think you can find our observer?" Alandra looks over to Scheur, "That thing just died, but we helped save 92,266 people," she explains pointing to the burnt up device. "Is there anyway to tell if anybody is using telepathy to know what we are doing?" "I don't think I can," Rathenhope says with a short look towards the dome. "They're observing us remotely," he sighs. "Hacked into the system, probably with the nanites. If that's what they're using." He peers around the landing pad to see if there's anyone actually watching them who shouldn't be there. Jantine blinks slightly, nodding a bit to Leodh. The neutral expression returns, but he murmurs something back to Leodh, before heading off towards the thousands of until recently comatose people, moving towards water, probably to distribute to the patients. ~It's not likely,~ Scheur says to Alandra. ~Most telepaths - including me - don't have enough range to sense much outside the limits of a small city. And those who *do* have the strength to sense further than that - like Voliast - would have a lot of trouble filtering out all the noise from everything else, before they could focus on any one area. Easier to use technology to do stuff like that.~ Alandra nods, "We can help with these people at least," she says looking to Jan and smiling before heading off to help the doctor with the people who are waking up. Ras Algethi heads off with Takoda, doing what he can to keep the newly awkened people at ease, offering water and quick check-overs, looking for any signs of discomfort etc. Leodhais smiles at Jantine with a little nod, and then looks to the sky/ceiling/whatever, staring at it as if trying to see something. He gets out his glasses and looks up at it. "...where the bloody hell did that wiggly thing come from?" he mutters to himself. Jantine gets water, moving about and offering it to patients. He's essentially doing the same as the others helping, just comforting the patients as best as he can. The patients all appear to be a little disoriented, but healthy enough to start sitting up and eating, drinking real consumable food and beverages. Goldenfur scrathes his head, and look around, then he nods to Ruin and asks "Maybe is better to do not move that thing around before we know that it will not break even further? Volouscheur pads around and helps out as well, offering drinks and a feeling of comfort to the people in the cots. "If it breaks down even further," says Ruin mildly, picking it up, "then it's useless anyway." Alandra goes to the two she had scanned before Delarme and Casper asking them if they are feeling alright and offering them water. She checks them over scanning them again to make sure everything is alright. Rathenhope sighs, moving over to Ruin, whispering something to him. Takoda is moving from patient to patient, keeping his convesations brief. His shoulders seem to have relaxed slightly as he notes that the patients are all waking up healthy so far. His face hasn't changed though. It still holds that serene and calming smile that seems to put people so at ease. Jantine just continues assisting the patients. He's neutral, but polite to the patients, offering water and anything else they need or want. Volouscheur continues walking around and offering water and feelings of comfort. She glows matte green and smiles calmly. Ruin nods, letting Rathenhope get the chunk of device. "...You can bring it to my lab," he says. "I'll go put my scanner away. Leodh...I made you a promise." He waves at the Dragonfly. "Door's unlocked, mo chroi. Go home." As his shuttle touches down, the Vollistan doctor moves out slowly, gazing around at the general scene in the spaceport. "Just in time..." he mumbles in utterly hopeless fashion, though only to himself. Surveying the area while breathing a deep sigh, Voliast unshoulders his medical bag. The colors in his aura die down to next to nothing, fading out while he focuses on moving among the awakening individuals, studying them with a medical scanner and brief examinations. He does give brief waves to people he spots, such as Ruin, Alandra, and especially Volouscheur, but he seems to be focused on the ex comites. He's testing reflexes, neurological function, and making sure they've eaten and are hydrated. He moves remarkably fast, using a small flashlight from his bag to test pupil response, having patients touch their noses and otherwise indicate their brains are still functional, and examining medical scans almost simultaneously. In Volouscheur's general direction, though also to Alandra, Ruin, Jantine, and Rath, he transmits a simple thought: ~~This is going to take a while. Someone bring me some caffeine. Anyone noted any of them coming out of the comas in an unhealthy fashion? These few look alright...~~ Leodhais nods, taking off his glasses and trying to contain himself as he heads over to the Dragonfly. "Mo Ru'n," he says breathlessly, as he heads up the ramp of it. Rathenhope chuckles, watching Leodhais go. "Shoo," he says to Ruin, taking the equipment carefully. "Go show him around. I'll find the lab." Jantine really just continues doing what he's doing. His face remains relatively neutral, but he's still polite, just offering patients water and whatever else they need. Alandra continues on to check people out until she meets up with Jan, she whispers something in his ear and smiles at him. Jantine murmurs something back to Lan, before going back to his duties. He's still looking neutral, but being polite. Takoda is now more rapidly moving from person to person as most of them seem to be getting up now. He directs orderlies to distribute food and water as appropriate and stands back for a second making sure that he's not missing anything. He pockets his med scanner and starts making his way back towards the Iupppiter Alandra finishes with the people she is checking over and seeing that everything else is under control she looks to Jan, "I need to lay down," she says softly before heading toward the hotel. Jantine nods a little, frowning slightly "Don't overwork yourself." he replies, softly, concerned. He watches her go, before looking back to the patients, frowning. Voliast sighs to himself and proceeds to meander further onward. His telepathic voice would echo across the area: ~~Do not panic. You have been the subjects of another number-related incidents. The nine of you I have examined will be fine. I will get to the rest.~~ Wiping his brow, he continues to check through the patients, ensuring they're capable of speech, able to stand (possibly with assistance due to immobility), and free of any notable signs that they'd been comatized at all. He's also logging data in a small device attached to his medical scanner. He doesn't seem like he intends to stop, though he ignores patients who have risen and seem capable or willing to leave on their own. for action Volouscheur keeps an eye on Voliast as he works, moving towards him, ~Anything I can do to help you, Iast?~ Jantine just continues what he's doing, neutral expression replaced with a slight frown. He's still polite and all, but glances to the hotel at times, while assisting those that need it. Takoda heads back via Jantine, placing a hand on his shoulder and smiling at him. "She'll be fine. You look after yourself as well," he notes. "I'm heading back to the ship for some tea." He heads off towards the Iuppiter, nodding at the two Vollistans. Voliast shakes his head. "Just fill me in on what happened, beloved. And sit down, you don't need to be bustling around. He smiles over at her, asking: "When did it end?" The Vollistan doctor bends down to near one of the fallen, and moves his finger in front of the individual's face. "Follow my finger with your eyes." He checks the pulse with his other hand, and makes sure the individual can, for instance, remember their name. Takoda gets a nod in return when he passes. Takoda reaches the Iuppiter and heads on board. ~Just a few minutes ago,~ Scheur replies. She sits down on one of the empty cots and retrieves a cup of water for herself, sipping at it. ~Ruin found something on his scanner and just after he spotted it, someone did something that made the device stop working and fall off the plascrete it was attached to. Ruin took the device inside, to study it.~ Jantine nods ever so slightly to Takoda, but makes absolutely no comment to him, doesn't look convinced himself. He just continues offering assistnace where needed. Rathenhope comes down the Dragonfly's ramp, waving at the ship before heading towards the Iuppiter quickly, scanning the pad to make sure his crew are all on. "Jan, I've got to head out, use the Star for transport, see you later," he calls at the man, then waves at Scheur and points to his head quickly, moving. ~~Numerical patterns... ha... it makes sense.~~ He just closes his eyes for a moment and smiles. Returning to the moment, Voliast realizes he still has patients, but is trying to examine those closest to Volouscheur's cot first while asking: "How are you feeling?" Jantine gets a glance a cheerful wave, before the Vollistan doctor beckons orderlies over and instructs them to make sure everyone drinks at least a fair bit of water upon awakening, and to make sure no one gorges themselves. Rath gets a wave on his way out, the doctor then returning to the patients with a sigh. ~I'm fine, Iast,~ Scheur reassures him. She waves to Rath and blinks at him as he points to his head. Jan gets a wave, too. After a moment, Scheur nods at...something. The Iuppiter's engines speed up as the ship quickly lifts off the pad. Rath's voice can be heard over the comm a moment later. "Go well all! Good work here today, we did good." And then it's off into space. Jan nods slightly to Rath, he's still frowning. Scheur gets an absent nod as Jan continues working. He's still frowning and glancing to the hotel though. Voliast tilts his head and "hmms". Looking about and reasoning that all he has checked so far have been fine, the doctor dashes over to Scheur and says only to her: ~~Come on. Do you think going back to your cave for the night would be a good idea? Like... now? Things seem alright here. I wasn't really needed.~~ His aura is faintly indigo as he sits on the cot next to her, looking around in case anyone IS in distress. Volouscheur offers a feeling of comfort, replying to Iast, ~Might be a good idea, yes. We're safer on New Luna than Sivad's area. I do kind of want to go see the attractions here, though.~ Scheur chews at her bottom lip quietly, ~...but we can do that another time, I guess.~ No change from Jan, still just frowning and glancing to the hotel, more and more. He pauses, glancing to the hotel and then to the people who are for the most part alright. Voliast nods. "When I'm not so tired, I can disguise us. But right now it won't work...let's go?" He surreptitiously puts his bag in the crook of his arm while rising, and offering his arm to 'Scheur to help her rise. Volouscheur's PDA beeps. She pulls it out of her bag and taps at it, nodding. ~I think it's okay, Iast. None of us were named in the article - so we've still got a little time here.~ She stands, ~But if you don't want to take the risk, I'm okay with going to the attractions another time.~ "I don't really want to. Sorry, dear one. Also, the story will draw people, after all... irregardless." And, he's slowly leading her by the arm toward the shuttle area, with a quiet wave back at Jantine. Jantine moves over towards the hotel, the people forgotten for now. He's still frowning, looking concerned. Category:Classic Watcher Logs Category:Classic Osirian Logs Category:Star of Mercy logs Category:Classic OtherSpace Logs